The Dangerous Prize - an Exhibition about Carl von Ossietzky

At the time, the award of the Nobel Peace Prize for 1935 to German journalist and editor Carl von Ossietzky was one of the most controversial in the award’s history. Yet it was to prove one of the Nobel Committee’s most important – and correct – decisions. The Peace Prize that was announced 80 years ago, one year in arrears, went to a fearless pacifist who had published details of Germany’s unlawful rearmament in the years before World War II.

The prize awarded to Ossietzky was a dangerous one. It was the first time the Nobel Peace Prize had gone to a political dissident who had previously been convicted of treason, and it threatened to destabilise relations between Norway and Germany’s increasingly belligerent Nazi regime.

Ossietzky set a nomination record, with 86 separate nominations signed by 500 qualified proposers. Albert Einstein was among those who wrote letters of recommendation to the Nobel Committee. But opposition to the award was also strong. Opinions within the Nobel Committee itself were divided, and two members ultimately resigned for fear of Germany’s reaction. The Norwegian royal family chose not to attend the award ceremony. The decision prompted fierce debate in the Norwegian and international press. The conservative Norwegian daily newspaper Aftenposten called it “a massive error of judgement”. One Norwegian Nobel literature laureate, Knut Hamsun, came out strongly against the award, while another, Sigrid Undset, rallied a large group of fellow writers in support of Ossietzky. In Germany, the Nazis had feared the Peace Prize would be given to the “traitor”. And Hitler became so infuriated when he heard the news that he banned any Germans from receiving Nobel Prizes for all eternity.

The price Ossietzky himself paid for expressing himself freely was dangerously high. Nevertheless, as he went to prison after being convicted of treason, he proclaimed: “I do not bend, I demonstrate.”

The Nobel Peace Center’s exhibition The Dangerous Prize goes behind the scenes to throw new light on Ossietzky’s life, the campaign to nominate him for the award and the Nobel Committee’s deliberations. In collaboration with the University of Oldenburg and the Norwegian Nobel Institute, we have brought together original documents and the Peace Prize diploma and Nobel medal that Ossietzky himself was never able to accept. He was hospitalised with tuberculosis, a disease he had contracted during his internment in a Nazi concentration camp. The German authorities refused him permission to travel to Oslo for the award ceremony.

“Carl von Ossietzky was one of history’s most important whistleblowers. He fought and died for freedom of expression and for peace. He remains an inspiration to many, but despite the fact that freedom of expression is still a matter of burning topicality today, memory of Ossietzky is starting to fade. With this exhibition, we aim to restore him to his rightful place among our most iconic Nobel Peace Prize laureates, and help his story to live on,” says Liv Tørres, director of the Nobel Peace Center.

Ossietzky’s most important mouthpiece was the magazine Die Weltbühne (The World Stage). The Nobel Peace Center’s largest exhibition space will therefore be transformed into a stage set inspired by the interwar period. At several points in the exhibition, visitors will be reminded of their own role in the struggle for freedom of expression. And at one of these, they will have the opportunity to give their support to today’s whistleblowers and campaigners for free speech.

For further information, please contact Ingvill Bryn Rambøl, Acting Head of Information at the Nobel Peace Center, at +47 92452944 / ibr@nobelpeacecenter.org

More information is also available from www.nobelpeaceprize.org.